


Catch and Release

by wildlings



Category: EXO (Band), NCT (Band), f(x)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-28 14:55:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7645522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildlings/pseuds/wildlings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taeyong's been guilty of countless mistakes in his life, but he's turned his life around and has been trying to make up for it. Unfortunately, it seems like someone doesn't want to let the past rest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue/Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I probably will not be updating this as much as the Sehun fic, but I wanted to get the beginning out just to see if it'll be worth continuing. Please leave any feedback/commentary! I appreciate every reader, thank you so much.

_**Prologue** _

 

Hyemi had grown up believing death could be a noble action. Hyemi also grew up believing love was worth dying for.

 

Hyemi _didn't_ think these two beliefs would eventually lead her to hold a gun to her own head, eyes squeezed shut, counting down seconds in her mind while muttering her last prayers.

 

_Please, God, if I die today, protect my family. Save them from this chaos. Let them remember me fondly. Don't let Saera hate me. Don't let Inho forget me._

 

Hyemi’s muttering paused for a moment while she took several deep breaths.

 

_And please god don't let Taeyong take the fall for my death._

 

Hyemi pulled the trigger.

 

**_Chapter One_ **

 

Taeyong dropped a stack of well worn files on the table in the 712 Precinct conference room, making Soojung start and Ten’s head whip in his direction. “Was that really necessary?” Soojung gave him a glare, tucking her hair behind her ear before she picked up one of the files and opened it to look inside.

 

“Wu hasn’t been active in Seoul for nearly two years, why are we discussing cold case files?”

 

Her brows furrowed as she picked her way through several more files, fanning them out in front of her before propping her chin on her palm.

 

“Homicide at 406 called in a hit on a drug pauper who turned up dead at 7th Sense.” Taeyong crossed his arms. Ten raised a brow. 7th Sense was a local nightclub, not without its share of drugs and illicit activities, but never so conspicuous as to be shut down or even raided by the police.

 

In fact, Ten occasionally stopped in at 7th Sense himself.

 

“There was an identifier?”

 

“I still don't get why people actually want to claim a murder with a calling card or mark, but yes. Sehun sent a photo earlier of what looks like Wu’s mark of Cain.” Taeyong unfolded his hand in order to untuck his phone from his pocket and swipe through his messages to pull up a photo.

 

Wu’s mark was a silvery substance on center of the victim’s forehead, branded in a W that looked like four overlapped tree branches. It made Taeyong shudder.

 

“I thought he flipping went back to Hong Kong why the hell is he here?” Soojung seethed as Ten grasped Taeyong’s phone.

 

“Should I go visit 406? Did CSU finish processing the body?” Ten looked up at Taeyong while he spoke, before looking at the photo again.

 

“Sehun said he'd call when Irene had any info for us. They found the body this morning when the club was closing and cleaning staff was coming in.”

 

“Why weren't we called in immediately to check out the scene?” Soojung bit her lip, confused.

 

“The mark was covered. They didn't notice it until the victim’s helmet was removed, back at the ME’s. He was wearing biking gear. Helmet, gloves, and jacket. They thought he could have been a delivery guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. The mark gave it away. You know he only brands them like Cain when they were one of his own.”

 

Taeyong sat at the corner of the table as Ten started to speak, “what if it's not even Wu? What if it's a form of misdirection or someone stole his calling card? Wu hasn't been active in two years, what would bring him back?”

 

“Or who.” Soojung added.

 

Taeyong inhaled, opening his mouth to speak, but his phone chimed and he plucked it easily from Ten’s fingers to read what he’d received.

 

“Irene might have some answers. Let's go down to 406.” He stood, the other two followed suit. They pushed past the conference room doors into a room that was buzzing.

 

Soojung inhaled sharply, and Taeyong furrowed his brows as he followed her line of sight and landed on three detectives of another unit walking through their precinct.

 

“Why is Vice here?” Her voice dropped to a whisper, and Taeyong instinctively stepped in front of her and Ten as he greeted the three detectives with a smile.

 

“Detective Hong and company,” he didn't recognise the woman or man to the lead detective’s left, but he gave them a warm smile as well before he returned his focus to Hong. “What brings you to OC?”

 

Detective Hong took a breath before reaching for his cuffs, his mouth set in a grim line as he spoke clearly.

 

“Lee Taeyong, you are under arrest for the murder of Kwon Daeyeol.”


	2. Chapter 2

The floor was concrete, grey impressed with years of scuff marks from countless bodies that had lain, walked, or sat on that same spot Taeyong was lounging on. The cold metal of the cell bars a support for his forehead as he’d leaned forward to attain just the right amount of light to read his book. There was a window, above the jailroom cell that served as an indicator of night and day. Currently, the entire jail was dim aside from a few yellow bulbs purposely placed at a distance from the cells.

 

There were four, in that particular room. He had no need to look around to point out the details. Four individual cell blocks lined the wall of the precinct jailroom. Above the middle two were two windows, like skylights, far above reach. Each wall perpendicular to the far cells housed dim lights that served more like nightlights when the place got dark.

 

One guard sat in on the night shift, a sigh or a page turn the only indication that he or she was even alive.

 

The jail that Taeyong was placed in was not of his own precinct. Units were divided amongst precincts, with one unit serving chiefly at each. In his division, 712, the Organized Crime Unit was the chief unit. In 406, Homicide was the chief unit, and the jail for which he sat belonged to Vice. It made sense that they allocated resources based on needs. Homicide, OC, and Vice all shared one jail that belonged in the Vice division.

 

His cell had, of course, been cleared, considering he could have easily shared a cell with someone he’d recently arrested himself. Which could have been a conflict, but really would have been a nuisance if anything.

 

When he realized just how dark it had become, he gave up on trying to read the pages in front of him, rather keen on not screwing up his eyesight any further. But he didn’t close the pages. He was aware of the attention on him. Rather than occasional sighs and page turnings that would frequent the jailroom normally, there was more of a tense silence. He knew he was being watched, particularly. The knowledge that he was so interesting almost made him smile. Almost.

 

He heard the footsteps before he saw them approaching, though he didn’t lift his gaze. The colourful high-top sneakers stopped inches away from his book on the cell bar, blocking the barely-there lightsource. A pair of well kept shiny black shoes stopped two steps behind.

 

“Your breaking protocol. You’ve both crossed the yellow line,” he didn’t bother to motion to the painted line a foot and some inches before the cell door, “and it’s far past visiting hours.” Not that he knew what time it was, per se.

 

He finally raised his head.

 

Ten’s ever present smile was in the form of lifted corners, as though a string had been tied to the edges of his mouth and were just barely being tugged. Soojung stood, arms crossed behind Ten’s shoulders. Her eyebrows were furrowed, and he felt guilty for a moment for making someone who rarely stressed about anything so anxious that she couldn’t even hide her displeasure.

 

“Internal affairs only just set us free.” Ten shrugged, and Soojung inhaled, “You know, we’re technically not even allowed to be speaking with you.” She glanced back at the officer on duty in mild distaste. “But that’s not the issue here.”

 

Taeyong closed the book and stood to face them directly.

 

“Don’t break any rules so openly that they’ll be used against us.” He exhaled, turning his head for a moment. “Daeyeol. That’s the name of the biker from 7th Sense, I’m assuming. Did Irene give us anything?” Now they began their conversation in low tones, though the sharper syllables bounced off the walls with fervour.

 

“Let’s not keep a count of broken rules now that we’ve come this far.” Soojung stepped closer once he was standing. “We’ve been pulled off the case. Vice took it. If we’re under you, we’re directly related. They didn’t want us tampering with any evidence… that is, the imaginary evidence.”

 

“Sehun messaged me when he couldn’t get a reply from you. Irene wasn’t able to find anything on the body aside from the mark, no prints, no DNA, no evidence that linked the body to anyone. Not even a partial. We did further research but Wu hasn’t entered the country, at least with his own passport or ID. There’s no record of him in South Korea since the incident two years ago. If he’s in Hong Kong we can contact authorities over there to inquire about him, but for what reason? This can’t be Wu’s work. There’s no motive.”

 

Taeyong tilted his head, frowning, “What implicated me? If there’s no print, no mark… I would have expected a planted print, to be arrested so quickly and easily.”

 

Soojung looked at Ten. “Ah, he meant the body.” She cleared her throat. “Yes. They found your print. On the murder weapon. Your service weapon.” Taeyong blinked, a minute of silence descending upon them, thickening the air.

 

“My personal service weapon? My precinct certified _gun?_ ” He intoned. Taeyong rarely intoned. Ten stared at him before nodding.

 

“They didn’t process my clothes. They didn’t test my hands.” Taeyong rapidly whispered at them. “They didn’t treat me like a suspected gunman. They’re not following protocol.” His mind reeled. He knew it was a set up, of course he knew it was a set up, but he initially assumed it would easily be tossed aside and he’d be released considering how obvious it was that _it was a set up_. But this?

 

“This makes no sense. My alibi wasn’t asked for, my clothes and hands weren’t processed for gunshot residue, my statement wasn’t taken… what kind of operation is this?” He wasn’t panicking, exactly, but his manner was less typical, then.

 

“That’s what _we’re_ trying to figure out.” Soojung spoke to him sharply, grounding him again.

 

“First we have to figure out why _Vice_ came to arrest you. You’re in Vice’s hands. We don’t have the authority here. We’ve already been kicked from the case and warned to stay away from it… and you. So now that we’ve spoken to you, our next plan of action is to get involved in the case.”

 

Ten smiled cutely, yet again.

  
Soojung leaned forward, hair meeting the cold metal bars. “ _Your_ next task is to write down the name of every person who wants to see you fall.” She crossed her arms once more. “How many sheets of paper are you going to need for that?”


End file.
